horn

From Middle English horn, horne, from Old English horn, from Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną. Compare West Frisian hoarn, Dutch hoorn, Low German Hoorn, horn, German Horn, Danish and Swedish horn, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂-nó-m, from *ḱerh₂- (“head, horn”). Compare Breton kern (“horn”), Latin cornū, Ancient Greek κέρας (kéras), Proto-Slavic *sьrna, Old Church Slavonic сьрна (sĭrna, “roedeer”), Hittite [script needed] (surna, “horn”), Persian سر‎ (sar), Sanskrit शृङ्ग (śṛṅga, “horn”).

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: hôn, IPA^(key): /hɔːn/

• Audio (UK)

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• (US) enPR: hôrn, IPA^(key): /hɔɹn/

• Audio (US)

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• (Dublin English, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈhɒːɹn/
• (Dublin English) IPA^(key): /ˈhoːrn/, /ˈhoːɻn/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)n

horn (countable and uncountable, plural horns)

1. (countable) A hard growth of keratin that protrudes from the top of the head of certain animals, usually paired.
2. Any similar real or imaginary growth or projection such as the elongated tusk of a narwhal, the eyestalk of a snail, the pointed growth on the nose of a rhinoceros, or the hornlike projection on the head of a demon or similar.
   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     But nowhere are there queerer waters than in our own parish of Caulds, at the place called the Sker Bay, where between two horns of land a shallow estuary receives the stream of the Sker.

3. An antler.
4. (uncountable) The hard substance from which animals' horns are made, sometimes used by man as a material for making various objects.

   Synonym: keratin

   an umbrella with a handle made of horn

5. An object whose shape resembles a horn, such as cornucopia, the point of an anvil, or a vessel for gunpowder or liquid.
   • 1726, James Thomson, “Winter”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, lines 123–125, page 169:

     [W]hile riſing ſlow, / Blank, in the leaden-colour'd eaſt, the moon / Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns.

   • 1775, William Mason, The Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings by W. Mason.:

     horns of mead and ale

   1. The high pommel of a saddle; also, either of the projections on a lady's saddle for supporting the leg.
   2. (architecture) The Ionic volute.
   3. (nautical) The outer end of a crosstree; also, one of the projections forming the jaws of a gaff, boom, etc.
   4. (carpentry) A curved projection on the fore part of a plane.
   5. One of the projections at the four corners of the Jewish altar of burnt offering.
      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 2:28:

        Joab […] caught hold on the horns of the altar

6. (countable) Any of several musical wind instruments.
7. (countable, music) An instrument resembling a musical horn and used to signal others.

   hunting horn

8. (countable, automotive) A loud alarm, especially one on a motor vehicle.

   Synonyms: hooter, klaxon

9. (chiefly sports) A sound signaling the expiration of time.

   The shot was after the horn and therefore did not count.

10. (countable) A conical device used to direct waves.

    Synonym: funnel

    antenna horn

    loudspeaker horn

11. (informal, music, countable) Generally, any brass wind instrument.
12. (slang, countable, from the horn-shaped earpieces of old communication systems that used air tubes) A telephone.

    Synonyms: blower (UK), dog and bone (Cockney rhyming slang), phone

    Get him on the horn so that we can have a discussion about this.

13. (uncountable, vulgar, slang, definite article) An erection of the penis.

    Synonyms: boner (US), hard-on, stiffy

14. (countable, geography) A peninsula or crescent-shaped tract of land.

    Synonym: peninsula

    to navigate around the horn

15. (countable) A diacritical mark that may be attached to the top right corner of the letters o and u when writing in Vietnamese, thus forming ơ and ư.
16. (botany) An incurved, tapering and pointed appendage found in the flowers of the milkweed (Asclepias).
17. (military) In naval mine warfare, a projection from the mine shell of some contact mines which, when broken or bent by contact, causes the mine to fire.

When used alone to refer to an instrument, horn can mean either hunting horn or French horn, depending on context. Other instruments are identified by specific adjectives such as English horn or basset horn.

horn (third-person singular simple present horns, present participle horning, simple past and past participle horned)

1. (transitive, of an animal) To assault with the horns.
2. (transitive) To furnish with horns.
3. (transitive, slang, obsolete) To cuckold.

• NRHO, Rohn

From Old Norse horn, from Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

horn n (singular definite hornet, plural indefinite horn)

1. horn

• “horn” in Den Danske Ordbog

From Old Norse horn, from Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

• IPA^(key): /hɔtn/
• Rhymes: -ɔtn

horn n (genitive singular horns, plural horn)

1. horn (of an animal)
2. (music) horn
3. corner
4. speaker (on a telephone)
5. angle

From Old Norse horn, from Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

• IPA^(key): /hɔrtn/
• Rhymes: -ɔrtn

horn n (genitive singular horns, nominative plural horn)

1. horn (of an animal)
2. fin (of a cetacean or other marine animal)
3. corner
4. angle
5. (music) horn

• horne, orn

From Old English horn, from Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂nós (with change in gender).

• IPA^(key): /hɔrn/, /hoːrn/

horn (plural hornes)

1. A horn (keratinous growth):
   1. Horn as a material or in crafts.
   2. (rare) The metaphorical horn of a cuckold.
   3. (rare, heraldry) A heraldic depiction of a horn.
2. A projecting extremity or point:
   1. A point of a crescent moon.
   2. A point of a woman's hairstyle.
3. A horn (musical instrument)
4. A bodily extension, such as a claw.
5. A horn-shaped container (especially as a glass)
6. (rare) A section of an army or band.
7. (rare) The eyestalk of a gastropod or an analogous projection.
8. (rare, collectively) Horned bovids.

• English: horn
• Scots: horn
• Yola: hoorn

• “horn, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-12-08.

From Old Norse horn, from Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

• IPA^(key): /huːrn/, [ˈhuːɳ]

horn n (definite singular hornet, indefinite plural horn, definite plural horna or hornene)

1. (zoology) horn
2. (music) horn
3. (automotive, rail transport) horn (warning device)

• hornhinne
• krutthorn
• ta tyren ved hornene

• “horn” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• haurn; hønn (hødn, hønnj); henn

From Old Norse horn, from Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

• IPA^(key): /horn/, /honː/
• (segmentation) IPA^(key): /hodn/
• (palatalisation) IPA^(key): /hoɲː/

horn n (definite singular hornet, indefinite plural horn, definite plural horna)

1. (zoology) horn
2. (music) horn
3. (automotive, rail transport) horn (warning device)

• hornhinne
• ta tyren ved horna

• “horn” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“horn, head, top”).

Cognate with Old Frisian horn, Old Saxon horn, Old High German horn, Old Norse horn, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).

• IPA^(key): /xorn/, [horˠn]

horn m

1. horn
2. antler
3. (horn-shaped) gable

• hornbǣre
• hornreċed
• hyrne

• Middle English: horn, horne, orn
  • English: horn
  • Scots: horn
  • Yola: hoorn

From Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

Cognates include also Old Saxon horn, Old English horn, Old Norse horn, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).

horn n

1. horn

• Middle High German: horn
  • Central Franconian:

    Hunsrik: Horn

    Luxembourgish: Har

  • Cimbrian: hòrn
  • German: Horn
  • Rhine Franconian:

    Frankfurterisch: [hɔɐ̯n]

  • Yiddish: האָרן‎ (horn)

From Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- or Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-. Cognates include Old English horn (English horn, Old Frisian horn (West Frisian hoarn), Old Saxon horn (Low German Hoorn, horn), Dutch hoorn, Old High German horn (German Horn), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).

horn n (genitive horns, plural horn)

1. horn (of an animal)
2. horn (to drink from)
3. horn (musical instrument)
4. corner
5. angle

• Icelandic: horn
• Faroese: horn
• Norn: honnj
• Norwegian Nynorsk: horn, (dialectal) hønn
• Old Swedish: horn
  • Swedish: horn
• Danish: horn
  • Norwegian Bokmål: horn

• “horn”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

From Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.

Cognates include also Old English horn, Old Frisian horn, Old High German horn, Old Norse horn, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).

horn n

1. horn

• Low German: Hoorn, horn

Borrowed from Ukrainian горн (horn), from Proto-Slavic *gъrnъ.

horn n (plural hornuri)

1. chimney

   Synonyms: cămin, coș, fumar, hogeag

From Old Norse horn, from Proto-Norse ᚺᛟᚱᚾᚨ (horna), from Proto-Germanic *hurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-.

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horn n

1. horn (growth on animals' heads)
2. horn (object shaped from or like an animal's horn, used for drinking, storage or making sounds)
3. horn (object that makes a sound, e.g. on a car)
4. (music) horn